'I CHOSE MONEY OVER LOVE'

BS Alison Hammond on her career, love life and why she thinks she’s Beyoncé…

- ROBYN MORRIS

Alison Hammond seems to be everywhere at the moment. As well as presenting This Morning alongside Dermot O'Leary every Friday, she also co-hosts The Great British Bake Off with Noel Fielding. And later this year she'll be the new face of For the Love of Dogs, taking over from the late Paul O'Grady.

It's hard to believe the star has risen to such fame after spending 15 days in the Big Brother house back in 2002, becoming the second housemate to be evicted. But fast forward 20 years and Alison is now a firm household name. 'From the outside, people think I'm career driven, but I'm not,' Alison has admitted. 'I've just embraced everything."

But while she is undoubtedly a huge success story, Alison admits that this has sometimes been to the detriment of her personal life.

BIG SACRIFICES

While her career has soared, one area Alison has always somewhat struggled with is her love life. It seemed she'd found her happily ever after with taxi driver Noureddine Boufaied, the father of her 19-year-old son Aiden, but the relationship ended in divorce something Alison has said she used to see as a 'failure'.

This struggle dates back to when she applied for Big Brother. Alison, who was in '£3,000 of debt' at the time she entered the house, explained that her main reason for signing up to the show was to win the £70,000 prize fund.